Dick Onslow | Page 3

give way to despair, I thought I would make an attempt to save
my life. From my companions I could expect no help, for even if they
succeeded in preserving their own lives they would scarcely be in a
condition to come back and rescue me. Poor Obed I felt pretty sure
must have been killed. A small stream with some bushes growing on its
banks was near at hand. I dragged myself towards it, and found a pretty

close place of concealment behind one of the bushes. Thence I could
look out. The wagons were still driving along furiously across the
prairie with the Indians hovering about them on either side, evidently
waiting for a favourable moment to renew the attack. Thus the whole
party, friends and foes, vanished from my sight in the fog. To stay
where I was would only lead to my certain destruction, for when the
Indians returned, as I knew they would, to carry off my scalp, the trail
to my hiding-place would at once be discovered. I felt, too, that if I
allowed my wounds to grow stiff, I might not be able to move at all.
Suffering intense agony, therefore, I dragged myself down into the
stream. It was barely deep enough to allow me to swim had I had
strength for the purpose, and crawl I thought I could not. So I threw
myself on my back, and holding my rifle, my powder-flask, and
revolver above my breast, floated down till I reached the wood we had
just passed. The branches of the trees hung over the stream. I seized
one which I judged would bear my weight, and lifting myself up by
immense exertion, of which, had it not been for the cooling effects of
the water, I should not have been capable, I crawled along the bough. I
had carefully avoided as much as possible disturbing the leaves, lest the
redskins should discover my retreat. I worked my way up, holding my
rifle in my teeth, to the fork of the branch, and then up to where several
of the higher boughs branched off and formed a nest where I could
remain without fear of falling off. I was completely concealed by the
thickness of the leaves from being seen by any one passing below, and
I trusted, from the precautions I had taken, that the Indians would not
discover my trail. Still, such cunning rogues are they, that it is almost
impossible to deceive them. My great hope was that they might not find
out that I had fallen, and so would not come to look for me. As I lay in
my nest, I listened attentively, and thought that I could still hear distant
shots, as if my friends had at all events not given in. Still it might only
have been fancy. My wounds, when I had time to think about them,
were very painful. I bound them up as well as I could--the water had
washed away the blood and tended to stop inflammation. The sun rose
high in the heavens. Not a sound was heard except the wild cry of the
eagle or kite, blending with the song of the thrush and the mocking-bird,
interrupted every now and then by the impudent observation of a stray
parrot and the ominous rattle of a huge snake as it wound its way

among the leaves. Every moment I expected to hear the grunts and cries
of the redskins, as with tomahawk in hand they came eagerly searching
about for me. I durst not move to look around. They might come
talking carelessly, or they might steal about in dead silence, if they
suspected that I was still alive.
I thus passed the day. I did sometimes think that I should have been
wiser had I remained within the bounds of civilisation, instead of
wandering about the world without any adequate motive. The reflection,
too, that the end of my days was approaching, came suddenly upon me
with painful force. How had I spent those days? I asked myself. What
good had I done in the world? How had I employed the talents
committed to me? I remembered a great many things I had been told as
a child by my mother, and which had never occurred to me since. The
more I thought, the more painful, the more full of regrets, grew my
thoughts. I am bound to tell you all this. I am not ashamed of my
feelings. I believe those thoughts did me a great deal of good. I blessed
my mother for all she had taught me, and I prayed as I had never
prayed before. After this I felt much comforted and better prepared for
death than I had been till then. The day